tintedpane.com

Funny comic about the asian ethos.

Thanks to Peekaboo8food for introducing them.

Found these lying on the web somewhere — I’m sure they just picked it up from a press package:

* 500+ HP High-Rev V-10
* 500+ NM Torque
* 7 Speed SMG

For when/if I can ever afford one, I’m hoping it also comes with a standard non-SMG transmission. There’s just too much pleasure derived from a clutch and rowing through the gears yourself that can’t be matched with a toggle of a shifter paddle. Probably slower, but you just can’t match the wide <g> on your face.

ABS plastic: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

No wonder no one ever knows what it stands for. I’m suprised surprised Will didn’t know either.

UPDATED: ER has posted times.

A lovely day indeed. Twas rainy, windy, and sunny at the track out in Mineral Wells. Since it’s 80 miles from Dallas, only the hardcore people showed up. And that meant less people and tougher competition. Lots and lots of Corvettes mostly. C5’s and one C4. Four cars in my class and two in John’s. No DNF’s this time and no cones and like my very first autocross at Texas Motor Speedway, each run improved by significant margins. In the end I lowered my time by over 8 seconds from the first run. I wish it took less runs to familiarize myself with the course as this Equipe Rapide has six runs instead of the usual 3-4 that SCCA Solo II has. It’d be nice if I could paint the apex cones yellow to set them apart from the ones that don’t matter as much. I fear this time that John had an experience more similar to my one at Pennington. He didn’t do poorly but…he’ll probably write about it on his weblog when he gets the chance.

I really love the way autocross lets you explore the limits of your car and your abilities. I have much greater confidence and know-how when it comes to driving at the limits now. Plus the ability to initiate a slide and correct it is quite entertaining and valuable at the same time. This also extends to the great pleasure I derive from driving my E30. I really love the way the car is balanced and the great feedback it gives. Even more so now that I remembered to adjust my front shocks (I had just left them on the softest setting since installing them two summers ago :-p). Transitions are now more balanced and body roll seems reduced as well.

Ok, nuff bout cars.

I was thinkin on the drive back home how life has some similarities to a short trip in the city. Some people will follow behind a slow driver cause they’re afraid to venture out and pass. Some always drive in the fast lane at their own pace and hold other people back while thinking their pace is perfect or “no one should be faster than me”. It’s also like trying to race someone to a destination. You might both be trying really hard but sometimes a stoplight will just force you to stop and let the other person pass. It’s not like you didn’t try your best; life just happens. Then there are those who take their own path and enjoy the trip, every turn, ever takeoff, every passing maneuver.

I hope that I’m (my friends as well) like that — enjoying what has been placed before me and not caring whether or not I’ll make it but just trying and having fun along the way.

Pics to come later…

philistinism
cronyism
spinster
cad

I was really missing the Merriam-Webster Bar on IE which allowed the context menu to define words that were highlighted in a new pop-up window. But now I’ve found the dictionarysearch extension for Firefox and all is well, mostly. I wish it could pop-up the results in a small box like before, but that’s nitpicking considering it’s a generic extension not made by m-w.com. Now I can go back to reading Salon without getting confused every other paragraph.

UPDATED: Times are in. Sorry John, you get 3rd, and no trophy for you :-(. BTW, anyone know what the “m” stands for? (Answer: SCCA Member)

The autocross today was pleasant. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. Windy with mild temperatures. Small course — avg lap time about 40-45 seconds for most people. Me, I DNF’ed two and then got a 46 something with one penalty cone three penalty cones. So you can see why it was merely a pleasant day. Some good notes: I’ve read through the rulebook and any tires that will fit stock rims are acceptable. So I can get a set of used bottlecaps (what bimmerheads affectionately call my rims) for about 100 bucks and slap on some stickier lower profile tires (since they “fit the mounted wheel and stock bodywork”). I saw another E30 325 today and it was wearing a 10% shorter profile tire than stock and got the idea from there. It pays to read rules carefully, eh? Only problem now is that tires for the smaller profile are twice as expensive as stock sizes. Doh.

It also appears that a limited slip differential was a factory option during that time, so I’ll be able to have my cake and eat it too

Well, next week’s another autocross. This time at Mineral Wells. I hope I look ahead more thru the turns than this time…No DNF’s please
Oh, there were some great license plates and decals there too: A C5 Corvette sporting a MIATA with a circle and a diagonal line across it (Miatas reign supreme on the autocross), a 350Z (female driver) with Z-ENVY, a 2nd gen RX-7 with a picture of a piston crossed out (for the uninitiated, the RX models use a rotary engine that doesn’t have pistons like conventional engines), a heavily modified Ford SHO with FRK-SHO…next time I’ll actually takes some pictures.

Anyone want a Pentium IV 540? Apparently Intel is going to change to different classifications of their processors to differentiate the line and make it tough for AMD. Their megahertz race has been put on hold since having scaling issues with the 90nm process.